The Eternal Space-Time Crystal Clock Ought To Be A Big Seller At Spencer's Gifts
I have read this Scientific American article about how scientists have figured out how to build a clock that will continue telling time even after the universe no longer exists four times now, and a) Of course I’m not smart enough to really understand it. It has to do with creating an electric field that will trap charged ions in a four-dimensional crystal shape, and the ions’ natural “Coulomb repulsion” will start them rotating in a circle. (“Coulomb repulsion” is the thing where positively charged ions push away other positively charged ions and negatively charged ions push away other negatively charged ions, like with magnets.) The rotation in the crystal will be frictionless, and free of entropy, so it will never stop — even after the rest of the universe reaches the state of thermodynamic equilibrium (a.k.a. “heat death”) that we’re all waiting for, and dissolves into formless anti-matter. B) This has got to be the most useless gag gift I’ve ever heard of. A clock that tells time after the universe ceases to exist?! I mean, it’s like laser neutering for a pet rock, right?